PlayOn – Gigaomhttp://gigaom.com
The industry leader in emerging technology researchWed, 13 Dec 2017 17:05:31 +0000en-UShourly1PlayOn gets ready to launch a desktop app with ad skippinghttp://gigaom.com/2015/01/16/playon-gets-ready-to-launch-a-desktop-app-with-ad-skipping/
http://gigaom.com/2015/01/16/playon-gets-ready-to-launch-a-desktop-app-with-ad-skipping/#commentsFri, 16 Jan 2015 19:24:59 +0000http://gigaom.com/?p=907242Video streaming underdog PlayOn is getting ready to launch a desktop client for Windows in the coming months, which will allow users to play and record web videos from over 100 sources right on their computer. The PlayOn desktop client will also offer an option to skip ads on streams from major TV networks (think of it as a poor man’s Hopper), and users will be able to cast videos to a Chromecast streaming stick or Android TV.
[company]PlayOn[/company] has been around for years, and was initially trying to solve a simple problem: TV networks weren’t making all of their shows available for streaming on Roku boxes and other connected devices. That’s why PlayOn streamed them to a PC first, where videos were transcoded on the fly, and then relayed to the TV screen. The company eventually added video recording as well, essentially turning computers into DVRs for web video.

All of that didn’t go over so well with content providers, which didn’t like that PlayOn was undermining their streaming policies. As a consequence of this tension, Roku was forced to remove PlayOn’s public channel from its devices.

However, PlayOn CEO Jeff Lawrence wasn’t too concerned when I asked him about this during last week’s CES. PlayOn isn’t officially available on Roku anymore, he explained, but the company still has a channel on the platform: MyMedia allows Roku users to play content stored on their PCs, and a one-time in-app purchase adds the capability to play web videos as well.

PlayOn’s desktop app promises to relay content to Roku as well and will also support casting to Chromecast. That’s notable because Google hasn’t actually released a Cast SDK for desktop apps — but PlayOn reverse engineered the protocol and made it work anyway.

That likely won’t help PlayOn to get any more popular with networks and device manufacturers, but it could be seen as a wake-up call for publishers that haven’t officially added casting to their media. In the end, users always find a way to play their favorite content on the devices of their choice — whether it’s officially supported or not.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2015/01/16/playon-gets-ready-to-launch-a-desktop-app-with-ad-skipping/feed/5PlayOn Opens Up API, Gets a Bunch of New Channelshttp://gigaom.com/2011/05/11/playon-open-api/
http://gigaom.com/2011/05/11/playon-open-api/#commentsWed, 11 May 2011 20:55:19 +0000http://gigaom.com/?p=343770PlayOn is a popular application that cord cutters often turn to when they want to stream web video to the TV. With channels for online video sites like Hulu, TBS, (s TWX) Comedy Central (s VIA) and other content companies, it provides a good cross-section of popular content for viewers’ consumption. But they will soon get a lot more options, as PlayOn has opened up its API, enabling its users to build channels for their own favorite content sources.

The PlayDirect API enables users to simply specify the URL of a video and add it to a channel. By doing so, the company has increased the speed with which users can create new channels. And that, in turn has led to an increase in available channels: Its users have submitted new channels for videos from the Food Network, Disney Channel Live, Limetime, and TV Land, among others. Altogether, PlayOn has received more than 20 new channels since making its API available.

PlayOn isn’t the only media server company to allow its users to develop new applications on its platform. Before it got into the hardware game, Boxee was known for its media center software, which allowed anyone to create apps. And Roku issued an open software development kit so that media companies and developers could create their own channels on the set-top box. Like those companies, PlayOn plans to release a channel store from which users can choose multiple publicly available applications.

Adding new channels will hopefully help PlayOn attract new users. The software costs $40 after a two-week trial period and enables users to stream personal media and web video to a wide range of connected devices. Using Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), PlayOn supports devices including game consoles like the Microsoft Xbox 360, (s MSFT) Sony PlayStation 3 (s SNE) and Wii, as well as mobile devices like the iPhone, iPad (s AAPL) and Android (s GOOG) mobile devices. In addition users can connect the software to Google TV-powered connected TVs and Blu-ray players and broadband set-top boxes from Roku and Netgear.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2011/05/11/playon-open-api/feed/230% of PlayOn Users Cut the Cordhttp://gigaom.com/2010/10/15/30-of-playon-users-cut-the-cord/
http://gigaom.com/2010/10/15/30-of-playon-users-cut-the-cord/#commentsFri, 15 Oct 2010 16:00:09 +0000http://newteevee.com/?p=58028Software maker MediaMall says 30 percent of its customers have canceled their cable subscriptions after using its PlayOn digital media server software to watch over-the-top video on the TV. And based on the number of its users that have downgraded their cable or done away with it altogether, the startup estimates that it saves customers $24 million a year on cable subscriptions.

The PlayOn software enables users to stream online video from nearly any online video source directly to the TV through an Xbox 360, (s MSFT) PlayStation 3, (s SNE) Nintendo Wii or any other DLNA-compliant device. The software gives users access to any online video service, including videos found on Hulu and network sites like ABC.com (s DIS) or CBS.com (s CBS), not just those that have struck deals with the box makers.

Access to all that content has led to a number of its users cutting the cord. MediaMall surveyed nearly 1,000 users to get a feel for how its software affected their cable TV consumption, and found that 30 percent of respondents claimed to have canceled their cable subscriptions, and an additional 10 percent said they had downgraded those subscription.

PlayOn isn’t free — it costs $39.99 for the first year of use, with an additional $19.99 per year fee for support thereafter. A one-time payment option of $79.99 is also available. But MediaMall says it saves users a bunch of money by allowing them to get at the content that they want and watch it on the big screen.

PlayOn users that cut the cord completely saved between $360 and $1440 a year, according to MediaMall, with the majority saving something in the range of $500 to $900 a year. Those who merely downgraded their service saved between $240 and $360 a year. If you multiply the average savings of those respondents across the entire PlayOn customer base, the software maker estimates it saves users about $24 million a year in total.

All that said, there is one big downside to PlayOn, especially for Mac users like me. The software is Windows-only, and will be for the foreseeable future. While Apple is steadily gaining traction in the PC market, MediaMall says the addressable user base is still too small to justify building an application for Mac users.

In addition to the cord-cutting stats, MediaMall also gave us some info on the breakdown of which devices its customers use to stream to their TVs. Most of its users are gamers, with 53 percent owning a Wii, 49 percent owning a PS3, 42 percent owning an Xbox 360 and 50 percent own some other DLNA-compliant device. It doesn’t take a math major to see that most respondents own multiple supported devices. According to PlayOn, 74 percent of users surveyed said they used its software multiple times a week, but only 25 percent do so on a Wii, despite most users having one. Instead, the majority use a PS3, Xbox 360 or other box when available.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2010/10/15/30-of-playon-users-cut-the-cord/feed/10Vid-Biz: Facebook Numbers, PlayOn App, Piracy Fighthttp://gigaom.com/2010/09/30/vid-biz-facebook-numbers-playon-app-piracy-fight/
Fri, 01 Oct 2010 00:00:55 +0000http://newteevee.com/?p=57308The Big Switch to Internet TV & How Clicker Aims to be Your TV Guide; Richard MacManus spoke with Clicker CEO Jim Lanzone to find out how the idea for his site came about and to hear his thoughts on how Internet TV is evolving. (ReadWriteWeb)

Lawyers to continue piracy fight; a London law firm has pledged to continue to target file sharers, despite controversy surrounding the acquisition and care of users’ data. (BBC News)

Now Available: Update v1.2 for Hulu Plus on iOS; new version of Hulu Plus app improves playback of videos at high bit rates, amongst other things. (Hulu Blog)

comScore Releases August 2010 U.S. Online Video Rankings; Facebook.com secures second place in online video content ranking with 59 million viewers. (Press Release)

]]>PlayOn Uses HTML5 to Bring Hulu and Netflix to the iPhonehttp://gigaom.com/2010/08/02/playon-uses-html5-to-bring-hulu-and-netflix-to-the-iphone/
http://gigaom.com/2010/08/02/playon-uses-html5-to-bring-hulu-and-netflix-to-the-iphone/#commentsTue, 03 Aug 2010 00:00:19 +0000http://newteevee.com/?p=53735PlayOn, which makes software that allows you to stream personal media and web video to gaming consoles and other devices, is now enabling users to stream movies and TV shows on the iPhone and iPod Touch without downloading or installing an app to do so. By integrating its software with a new HTML5-based web app, PlayOn users will be able to watch previously unavailable web video sites like Netflix (s NFLX) and Hulu.

To get the streaming to work, a user needs to install PlayOn on their PCs and log on to http://m.playon.tv from the mobile device while connected to his home network. The mobile app then searches for PlayOn servers on the home network, from which it can stream content from any number of web video sites or personal media files. The software works by local transcoding and streaming content from the local PC in an iPhone-supported format. Using the HTML5 video tag and video encoded in a multi-bit rate H.264 format, PlayOn even enables dynamic streaming to ensure the best video quality based upon available bandwidth.

PlayOn developed the HTML5 web app after its plans for an iPhone and iPad app released through the App Store were stalled. The company was planning on having the iPhone app become available on July 15, but had its application pulled for a second review by Apple (s AAPL) after already once receiving approval. But CEO Jeff Lawrence says there was no functional advantage of having a standalone app versus the web app, except having some promotional aspect from being in the App Store. However, the advantage of the HTML5 web app is PlayOn’s ability to update and iterate without having to constantly resubmit new versions for approval by Apple.

While the HTML5-based web app only works on the iPhone and iPod Touch now, PlayOn is working to extend the capability to the iPad. The company is also looking to make servers available over the wide area network by allowing users to eventually connect to home networks from anywhere by using an IP address.

The PlayOn software, which is (unfortunately) only available for the PC, costs $39.99 for the first year and $19.99 per year after that. Or it can be had for a one-time payment of $79.99.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2010/08/02/playon-uses-html5-to-bring-hulu-and-netflix-to-the-iphone/feed/3Vid-Biz: PlayOn iPhone App, YouTube Ad Selector, TwitVid Social Adshttp://gigaom.com/2010/07/12/vid-biz-playon-iphone-app-youtube-ad-selector-twitvid-social-ads/
http://gigaom.com/2010/07/12/vid-biz-playon-iphone-app-youtube-ad-selector-twitvid-social-ads/#commentsMon, 12 Jul 2010 23:11:58 +0000http://newteevee.com/?p=52532PlayOn Delivers the Full Version of Hulu to Your iPhone or iPad; PlayOn has a new app available in the App Store starting July 15 that will allow consumers to stream Hulu to their Apple devices if they have paid for the PlayOn media center software. (CNET)

Will YouTube Swim in Publicis’ ‘Pool’?; Starcom and its partners would like YouTube to join them in implementing The Ad Selector — a Pool-endorsed ad unit. (AdWeek)

TwitVid Launches SocialAds to Help Brands Gain Followers, Retweets; the network is designed to help advertisers increase sales by strengthening their social media presence through customized campaigns with specific audience targeting. (WebProNews)

Broadcast Viewership Hits Record Low; CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox together had the smallest number of prime-time viewers last week in two decades of record-keeping, Nielsen said. (Washington Times)

TV Everywhere Is All Hype; Streaming Media’s Dan Rayburn says Comcast, the only MSO to offer such a service in the US, will lose money with Fancast Xfinity TV and doesn’t know how it will turn the service into a profitable business. (Streaming Media blog)

Dateline Announces Partnership With Tunerfish; starting tonight, Dateline viewers can log on to Tunerfish.com and share that they are watching the show to earn the ‘Dateline Detective’ profile badge. (Tunerfish blog)

]]>http://gigaom.com/2010/07/12/vid-biz-playon-iphone-app-youtube-ad-selector-twitvid-social-ads/feed/3Review: Nintendo Wii Gets (Very) Beta Online Video Streaming Servicehttp://gigaom.com/2009/08/25/review-nintendo-wii-gets-very-beta-online-video-streaming-service/
http://gigaom.com/2009/08/25/review-nintendo-wii-gets-very-beta-online-video-streaming-service/#commentsWed, 26 Aug 2009 04:00:54 +0000http://newteevee.com/?p=30471Video streaming service PlayOn from Media Mall Technologies recently added support for the Wii, which owners of Nintendo’s phenomenally popular video game console can use to watch Hulu, CNN and other selected channels online. It’s about time: The Wii excels at games, but when it comes to offering great online content, it’s running a distant third to Microsoft’s (s msft) Xbox 360 and Sony’s (s sne) Playstation 3. That in mind, I gave PlayOn for Wii a quick spin today. Instant verdict: Not a bad video streaming alternative for long format videos, but not yet ready for everyday couch surfing.

You first need to install the PlayOn program on a computer running on the the same network your Wii uses for Internet connectivity. (Instructions here; follow those closely before even turning on your Wii or downloading the client, or you may end up with hours of aggravation and confusion, like me.) Once PlayOn’s launched on your PC, just point your Wii’s web browser to “playon.tv,” and you’re in.

PlayOn’s Wii starting screen presents you with the available channels to choose from, including Netflix and Amazon (s amzn), though you need to register your account info in the PC client, to access those services. Video quality is not bad, at least on my console — slightly better than the average YouTube video, but a notch or two below Hulu. PlayOn for Wii seems to stream long format videos well; I was able to watch an extended 60 Minutes segment without any sputtering. Overall, however, it is still very beta. For instance, many of Hulu’s listings don’t even have show/subject titles. (I only found Daily Show episodes after much digging, and got a 404 error for my pains.) YouTube videos don’t seem to come with a rewind or replay button. At the moment, channel navigation and content search is so kludgey and time-consuming, it’s not a very good solution for random viewing.

Final summary for Wii owners? Instead of using the 14-day free trial offer now, I’d wait a month or two (or three) in hopes the folks at Media Mall Technologies can work out the worst kinks, and only then give it a whirl before deciding if you want to plunk $39.99 down for a full license.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2009/08/25/review-nintendo-wii-gets-very-beta-online-video-streaming-service/feed/5Vid-Biz: DTV, Veoh, Super Adshttp://gigaom.com/2009/02/05/vid-biz-dtv-veoh-super-ads/
http://gigaom.com/2009/02/05/vid-biz-dtv-veoh-super-ads/#commentsThu, 05 Feb 2009 17:12:36 +0000http://newteevee.com/?p=17721DTV Delay-related News; according to Nielsen, more than 5.8 million U.S. homes (5.1 percent) are unprepared for the DTV switch (Nielsen Wire); the Consumer Electronics Association warns that the recent push back to the DTV switch could result in a shortage of converter boxes. (Broadcasting & Cable)

Universal Music Group Can’t Sue Veoh’s Investors; judge throws the part of UMG’s complaint that accuses Shelter Capital, Spark Capital and Eisner’s Tornante Company of “vicarious copyright infringement” and “inducement of copyright infringement.” (TechCrunch)

A Breakdown of Super Bowl Ads Online; 4,000 clips of ads from the big game have been uploaded and have received more than 75 million views. (Visible Measures)

SAG Feud Goes to Court; drama over the ousting of the union’s former executive director and chief negotiator continues, judge denies SAG president’s request for a restraining order against the union and the national board. (The New York Times)

PlayOn Releases Beta; software moves Hulu, CNN and other content from Windows PC to TV-connected boxes like Xbox 360, PS3 and other DLNA and UPnP devices. (Zatz Not Funny!)